Nation & world briefs: World Bank: Climate change could result in 100 million poor

The Associated Press

Published 2:52 pm, Sunday, November 8, 2015

STOCKHOLM — Climate change could push more than 100 million people into extreme poverty by 2030 by disrupting agriculture and fueling the spread of malaria and other diseases, the World Bank said in a report Sunday.

Released just weeks ahead of a U.N. climate summit in Paris, the report highlighted how the impact of global warming is borne unevenly, with the world’s poor woefully unprepared to deal with climate shocks such as rising seas or severe droughts.

“They have fewer resources and receive less support from family, community, the financial system, and even social safety nets to prevent, cope and adapt,” the Washington-based World Bank said.

How to help poor countries — and poor communities within countries — deal with climate change is one of the crunch issues in talks on a global climate accord that’s supposed to be adopted next month in Paris.

Those who say that rich countries aren’t doing enough to help the poor said the report added emphasis to demands for billions of dollars in so-called climate finance to developing countries.

After historic polls, many in Myanmar hope for Suu Kyi win

YANGON, Myanmar — With tremendous excitement and hope, millions of citizens voted Sunday in Myanmar’s historic general election that will test whether the military’s long-standing grip on power can be loosened, with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party expected to secure an easy victory.

In a country that was under military rule for almost a half-century, many of the eligible 30 million voters cast ballots for the first time in what was billed as the nation’s freest election ever. It was the first time even for Suu Kyi, the epitome of the democracy movement who had defied the junta for decades.

Wearing her trademark thazin flowers in her hair, a smiling Suu Kyi arrived at the polling station near her lakeside residence, where she was mobbed by hundreds of journalists. She quickly cast her vote and left without speaking to reporters.

Many people lined up in Buddhist temples, schools and government buildings early in the morning to vote, well before a heavy downpour beat down in Yangon an hour before voting ended peacefully in the late afternoon with no reports of major irregularities or violence.

Election monitors called it “a remarkable day” full of excitement and energy.

Missouri football players pressure school leaders over race

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Student protests over racial incidents on the University of Missouri campus escalated over the weekend when at least 30 black football players announced they will not participate in team activities until the school’s president is removed.

President Tim Wolfe gave no indication he has any intention of stepping down, but agreed in a statement Sunday that “change is needed” and said the university is working to draw up a plan by April to promote diversity and tolerance.

For months, black student groups have complained of racial slurs and other slights on the overwhelmingly white, 35,000-student campus. Their frustrations flared during the homecoming parade Oct. 10 when black protesters blocked Wolfe’s car and he would not get out and talk to them. They were removed by police.

On Saturday night, black members of the football team joined the outcry.The athletes did not say explicitly whether they would boycott the team’s three remaining games this season. The Tigers’ next game is Saturday against BYU at Arrowhead Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, and canceling it could cost the school more than $1 million.Carson: Questions on background aren’t “real” scandalsWASHINGTON— Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said Sunday that he’s facing an unprecedented level of scrutiny about the veracity of his life story and questioned whether the issues dogging him over his autobiography are important to the nation’s search for the next president.“Every single day, every other day or every week, you know, they’re going to come out with, ’Well, you said this when you were 13,’” the retired neurosurgeon said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”“The whole point is to distract the populace, to distract me,” Carson added. “If you’ve got a real scandal, if you’ve got something that’s really important, let’s talk about that.”Moving on, at least in the short term, is unlikely. The accuracy of Carson’s autobiography has dominated his campaign in the past few days, and there are likely to be more questions asked on Tuesday during the next GOP presidential debate. The scrutiny reflects Carson’s transformation from political outsider to the top of the polls in the unsettled nomination fight, second only to billionaire developer Donald Trump. And in early voting Iowa, some polls show Carson’s leading.Trump on Sunday tried to keep the allegations alive.Armed groups target elephants in Congo parkJOHANNESBURG — The eight suspected poachers stood under a tree, apparently unaware they were being tracked by 10 rangers from Congo’s Garamba National Park. But as the rangers approached, gunfire rang out from the tall grass nearby, where other heavily armed men were hidden. The dragnet swiftly turned into a desperate fight for survival.The shootout last month, in which three rangers and a Congolese army colonel were killed, highlights the challenge of protecting parks in a part of Africa plagued for decades by insurgencies, civil war, refugee flows and weak governments. It shows how some conservation efforts resemble a kind of guerrilla warfare in which rangers and soldiers stalk — and are stalked by — poachers who are slaughtering Africa’s elephants and other wildlife.Such violence is not confined to Garamba in northeastern Congo, on the border with South Sudan. Farther south, in Congo’s Virunga National Park, assailants killed a ranger last month and another died in a militia attack there in August.More than 200 elephants have been poached in Garamba since a census in April 2014 counted 1,780 elephants — down from more than 11,000 two decades ago. The park is one of only a handful of sites in Congo with “a viable population of elephants,” despite the loss of many large mammals over the past five decades, said Bas Huijbregts, an expert with the World Wildlife Fund conservation group. Garamba was also once known as home to the last northern white rhinos in the wild, though none have been seen there for years.An earlier generation of poachers in Garamba killed with spears. Today’s intruders carry grenades and rocket launchers, and in some cases, have even targeted elephants from helicopters. These gunmen have turned a world heritage site the United Nations defines as “in danger” into a spot where deadly skirmishes are likely to forestall significant tourism for quite some time.Croatia’s conservatives claim victory in general voteZAGREB, Croatia— Croatia’s conservative opposition claimed victory Sunday against the ruling center-left coalition in the Balkan country’s first parliamentary election since joining the European Union in 2013 — held amid deep economic woes and a massive migrant surge.The state electoral commission said Sunday that with about 70 percent of the vote counted, the conservatives, led by former intelligence chief Tomislav Karamarko, won 61 seats in the 151-seat parliament, while Social Democrats, led by incumbent Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic, had 53.The result means both blocs have failed to win an outright majority in Sunday’s vote and the forming of the new government will depend on several small parties that entered parliament. The kingmaker could be the third-placed party, Most, or Bridge, with a projected 19 seats.“We have won,” Karamarko said. “The party which has won the most number of votes must lead Croatia in the future,” he added with his supporters chanting “Victory, Victory.”However, Milanovic called on Most, the newly-formed group of citizens without clear political stands, to start talks on a new coalition.